While I may have just returned
from enjoying the company of family in Hong Kong, that doesn’t stop me from
wondering whether the year ahead will hold any promises of travel and also has
me reminiscing about the final week of our European holiday mid-last year. Of
course as with any holiday, local or overseas, there are always must-see sights
as well as must-try eats. So how could we make it all the way to Germany
without sampling at least some of the following delights?

My first experience with “proper”
Wiener (veal) schnitzel admittedly wasn’t great, and looked like a reheated
affair where the crumbing was flaking off. The veal was tasty, if a little dry,
while the ‘Tennessee Steak’ was a welcome break from all the pork we’d been
eating.

A schweineschnitzel – pork schnitzel – proved to be much better made
but in actual fact I chose this dish due to its inclusion of the in-season and oft-revered
European white asparagus. Compared to its green cousin, I found the asparagus
to be a little soft (overcooked?) and bland for my liking. The large potato was
left mostly untouched, as was the giant knödel alongside the
husband’s sizeable schweinehaxen (pork
knuckle) which we failed to finish. Tip: Germans take their meat very seriously
so when the waitress assures you that the knuckle is “not too large”, don’t
trust her!

Of course after two and a half
weeks of European – mostly German – food, these two little Asians were left
craving for something more Eastern. Luckily there was a small Thai takeaway
located near the husband’s office which did a decent pad Thai and red duck
curry. Interestingly the rice served appeared to be of the broken variety. And
totally unrelated a peacock strode across the hotel carpark one morning!

The husband’s work relocated us
to a different hotel during the final week of our stay, which provided a change
of surroundings as well as food choices. Being in the town’s centre made for a
far greater selection of bars and pubs, which featured mainly German and
Italian fare on their menus. We were pleasantly impressed by the crispy anchovy
pizza, chicken schnitzel (crumbing intact) and spaghetti. Baskets of
selected German breads were provided complimentary to the table.

Gebacken
camembert were a must-order once spotted on a menu as I had seen so many
prepared frozen packs of these crumbed cheese rounds in local supermarkets. Two
small rounds with oozy centres were served with cranberry jam whilst slices of
toasted sandwich bread were politely left behind.

As far as sweets go, a friend in
Sydney recommended that I should try kaiserschmarrn
should I come across it. What I was presented with were little gnocchi-shaped dumplings
which tasted of apple and almond, served with apple purée and a selection of
fresh fruit – my first taste of a fresh gooseberry! Also, I finally got a
chance to try local apfelstrudel with fine slices of apple instead of the apple
pie-type chunks found in some.

Our final morning in Germany was
a scorcher where we picked up a bowl of coffee and croissant with housemade
marmalade from a local bakery. While you would expect to find excellent
croissants in France, we were most surprised by the quality of those we tasted
in Munich.

At the airport I made a last
ditch attempt to have something German, which resulted only in a sausage,
before boarding an A380 which took me to more Häagen-Dazs in Dubai.

And returning home to Sydney saw
me greeted by this awesome haul of European chocolates, some of which I’m still
getting through!

6 comments:

Happy 2013 Rita! Your HK trip went by so quick. Anyways, I thought Germany had really hearty food. I too ate a lot of schnitzels (mostly good, hardly ever dry to my suprise) and lots of steins of bier. Hmm. This post definitely brings back lots of good memories! x

LinkWithin

About Me

Mademoiselle Délicieuse is Rita. Wife to the ever-patient Monsieur Poisson. Mother to the Mini-human. Australian-born but Hong Kong-Chinese at heart. Loves all things French. Tries to find time to be a food blogger.

Other good reads:

DISCLAIMER

All comments and opinions expressed on this blog belong to the author and no one else. Each blog entry is a personal anecdote and is published for entertainment purposes only. No payments or incentives have been received by the author in exchange for the comments and opinions expressed unless otherwise stated. All pictures published can be accredited to the author's own shonky photography skills.